In twin drives for rolling mills, the upper and the lower rollers are driven by separate electric motors, one of which is arranged at an elevated location. Each of the rollers is connected with a roller stand. Each of the rollers is also connected with the rotor shaft of the drive motor via couplings which permit longitudinal displacement besides angular motion, and via spindles. The rotor shaft of the lower motor is connected directly with the spindles, and that of the upper motor via an intermediate shaft. Next to the couplings, respective radial bearings are arranged, of which the radial bearing of the intermediate shaft is mounted on an elevated bearing support platform. In addition, a thrust bearing is provided in each shaft chain which in general is disposed at the end of the motor shaft.
It is furthermore customary to support the spindles in laterally arranged support beams in order to obtain a balanced arrangement of the spindles. The support beams, in turn, are supported hydraulically on one side, while they have a separate bearing on the other side, which is attached at the elevated bearing support platform in the case of the upper support beam, while the lower support beam is supported directly on the foundation or also at the bearing support platform. Thereby, the axial forces occurring in the roller stand are transmitted through the spindles and support beams to the elevated bearing support platform.
In such a twin drive, very large fast decaying axial forces can occur in the event of a break of a roller depending on the inclination of the break. These forces are not transmitted via the lateral support beams to the elevated bearing support platform because the couplings provided in the shaft chain permit longitudinal displacements. However, there is the danger that because of the rather high attachment point of the lateral support beams at the elevated bearing support platform, the strength of the latter is exceeded so that damage to the bearing support platform occurs. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to limit the axial forces acting in a twin drive of the above described type on the elevated bearing support platform to a permissible value.